As is disclosed in Belgian Pat. No. 851,900, 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde is of interest as a precursor for the preparation of insecticidal esters of certain cyclopropanecarboxylic acids. Netherlands patent application No. 7701128 discloses a process for preparing 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde by treating a mixture of a 3-phenoxybenzyl halide and 3-phenoxybenzal halide with hexamethylenetetramine in the presence of acetic acid and water.